Lost and Found
by DarkStarlet
Summary: The Choshu continue to burn where ever they go, but their madness has just created a nightmare. That was one woman they should not have upset. Rated M for language and mature scenes. SojixOC
1. Chapter 1  Holding on for Hope

**(Disclaimer: I do not own PeaceMaker Kurogane or any of the characters, I own the plot and any OCs used within it.)**

**Lost and Found – PeaceMaker Kurogane**

**Chapter One – Holding on for Hope**

Lightening flashed and thunder rolled. It was the worst storm they'd had in years.

The farmers in the area were raging that morning about the weather ruining their yield this year. First a drought that left few crops that were weak and open to disease, and now this, so much rain it would kill them, wash them away, and leave the people with nothing.

Hurrying through the rain that night was a covered carriage of European design, it contained just one passenger, a young woman, who was also European. Her father was trying to send her away from the house he'd acquired when he'd done some trading in this land.

The woman believed he must have come across the house by ill means, and that was why it had been attacked by rouge samurai from the Choshu clan, and burnt to the ground.

Her father did the only kind thing for her, and pushed her into the carriage and sent her away.

Now she had no idea where she was, only that they had left the city of Kyoto behind them, and were travelling in the country somewhere.

The road was uneven and the four wheels couldn't take the strain much longer, the wooden axels cracked and split, the back was tossed to the ground, the horses knocked clear and left to run on into the storm with out anyone to guide them, the driver was thrown into the air, and when he crashed down to the earth again, it snapped his spine and killed him instantly.

All was silent once more; save for the constant patter of rain on the roof of the broken carriage.

~O.O~

Soji Okita woke early after the rain, and smiled at the clear blue of the sky. It was like everything had been washed clean and fresh. A new start.

He walked out to the yard where the pigs were kept, and petted them whilst looking for some food for them. He knew it was Tetsu's job, but that boy worked so hard to keep everyone happy, and deserved some time to himself.

Unable to locate the bag of feed, Soji headed to the storerooms to see if there was anything in there.

He encountered Kondo-san just leaving the room, looking rather grave.

"Kondo-san! Good morning!"

"I'm afraid there's nothing good about this morning. The Choshu have been burning again. Gather the first, second and tenth units and meet me at the training hall."

Soji bowed and ran to wake the other Shinsengumi. They weren't too happy about it, but when they heard the name Choshu, they were ready in a second and racing to the hall.

They gathered there quietly, waiting anxiously to hear the news.

When Kondo-san walked in with Hijikata-san in tow, they bristled uncomfortably. He was always giving them an air of distaste, like he was never happy with them.

Kondo-san stood before them all, and raised a hand in silence before beginning.

"Men, I have asked you to be gathered here to tell you of events that occurred last night. A European merchant was murdered last night, his mansion burned down, and his young daughter is still missing. We have good reason to believe this was an act of revenge by some Choshu clan's men."

He paused to allow the chatter and curses against that hated clan's acts, but raised his hand to stop them after a few moments.

"Your task is simple. We must find the culprits and bring them to justice, the Europeans know nothing of this yet, as news is slow to travel across the sea, but when they do find out about this, they may take action against the whole nation in retaliation. Time is of the essence here men!"

Someone raised a hand, to ask a question. Tetsunosuke stepped out of the crowd and bit his lip, as if he knew Hijikata's shout was coming.

"What are you doing here boy? Get back to your chores; you're not part of this."

"But-"

"Get out."

"Now, now, Hijikata. Let the boy ask his question, he'll be one of us someday, it's good experience for him."

Hijikata let out a little disgruntled noise but fell quiet.

"You said this merchant's daughter was missing. Shouldn't we find her so she can tell us who killed her dad?"

"A good point Tetsu! Yes, men listen up. Should you come across the girl, I want you to bring her back here straight away. Not just for information, but for her own protection. If the Choshu discover she's still alive, they'll be sure to come after her."

A few more points were made, some clarifications cleared up, and the three units set off to get ready for the day. They would head into Kyoto dressed as ronin so as not to attract attention to the Shinsengumi, and search for the Choshu, the girl and any other information they could find.

Tetsu went with them, he had some shopping to do anyway, so it was a fine opportunity for him to accompany the samurai into the city.

~O.O~

Along the dusty road, riddled with pot-holes filled with the remnants of last nights rain, they came across large splinters of wood. Upon further investigation they discovered an overturned carriage and the body of a man with a broken spine.

"He was the driver." Stated Saitou Hajime calmly.

They looked inside the carriage and found nothing. There was a little blood on the broken glass of the window, like someone had crawled out of it in a hurry, but other than that there was no trace of life.

Saitou looked around and held out his hand, like he was searching for something.

"Over here."

The men stayed back from him, his strange powers scaring them.

Instead they looked around at the carnage and generally at their own feet.

A twig snapped in the trees above them.

They all froze, but when nothing happened they relaxed a little though some kept their hands on their weapons. Saitou looked up into the trees after circling one a few times.

"Up there." He whispered to Soji.

After a minute hand signal, five of the men, including Soji took to the trees to search for whoever was hiding there. A startled scream came down and someone fell from above towards the men below.

It was a woman.

Sanosuke held out his arms and caught her, but she wriggled free of his grasp and started to run away from them. They chased after her. She was crying, running blind and as such she tripped and fell to the ground.

She lay there, waiting for them, too exhausted to do anything but wait.

They formed a loose circle around her and Soji appeared then, sword drawn, eyes dark.

The woman raised her head and peered through her messy, waist length, brunette hair up at him. Her eyes, reddened with tears, lingered on the long slim blade that she was sure had tasted human blood before, but when she looked into Soji's face, she paused and frowned. She looked round at the other men gathered there and slowly sat up, her hair still covering most of her face.

"Y-you're not the men… from last night… are you?"

Her voice was soft, low and had a strange lilting accent to it, like she was not used to speaking.

Soji sheathed his sword and stepped to stand right in front of her, she flinched. He knelt before her and raised one hand to brush her hair away from her face, she flinched again, but allowed the contact.

Soji's face softened, and he smiled.

"Don't worry, you're safe now. We're the Shinsengumi, and we're going to find who killed your father, and exact justice."

"My… my father's dead…?"

"You didn't know? I-I'm sorry. I thought you knew…"

"Those bastards…!"

The woman's cursing soon turned to sobbing and Soji put one hand on her shoulder, and then pulled her into a hug.

"Send word to the other units. We've found the girl, and tell Kondo-san to make arrangements for her arrival."

"Yes sir!" Called a few of the men, dashing off to complete their orders.

Soji picked up the slight woman, surprised at her lightness, and began to walk back to the base with a few men in tow, for protection.

Tetsu went with the rest of the unit into the city to complete hi shopping, and resolved to get it done as quickly as possible so he could get back to see the woman.

~O.O~

Night fell quickly, a sign of the closing of days, and the closing in of winter.

Tetsu was helping Ayumu in the kitchen, doing the dishes after dinner. He hadn't been able to see the strange woman since they'd discovered her that morning and he was feeling left out.

Hijikata's voice filtered through to him, calling for him, he dropped his wash rag, apologised to Ayu and dashed out to his master.

"Where have you been brat, I've been calling you for ten minutes now?"

"I'm sorry, I was helping Ayu in the kitchen like you said and-"

"Enough of that. I have a new job for you. I need you to go into the city and buy some new clothes."

"Clothes? For who?"

"For our guest you idiot, honestly why do I waste my time on you? Here's the money, get something simple, and don't buy anything else brat."

Hijikata pressed a small pouch into Tetsu's palm and turned to go.

"Oh, you might want to take one of the men with you, the Choshu are getting more daring by the day."

Tetsu smiled, the old goat cared about him after all.

The boy dashed off to find his favourite person and ran into him near the guest rooms.

Soji was just leaving a room quietly, the low voices of Kondo-san and Yamanami-san filtering out.

Soji saw him and smiled.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry Tetsu?" the young man grinned.

"I, um, wanted to know if you would go with me into the city. Hijikata-san said I should take someone with me, and I thought…"

"I'd love to go with you Tetsu, I'll just get my sword and we'll be off okay."

Tetsu waited eagerly at the front entrance for the young captain, and when he arrived, they set off at a quick pace, so as to get into the city before all the shops closed.

They found that only one woman's clothes shop was still open, but it was a rather expensive shop, and Tetsu didn't know what to buy.

Soji ended up choosing a simple pale pink kimono with a red obi and even picked out some geta to match.

Tetsu handed over Hijikata's money and took the wrapped package from the happy man behind the counter, happy to make a nice sale at the end of the night.

They walked home in relative silence, neither wanting to spoil the quiet lit by golden fireflies and the nearly full moon.

They reached the base and Tetsu thanked Soji for going with him and then rushed off to find Hijikata and give him the clothes.

Unable to locate him, the boy went to the room he'd heard Kondo-san in before, and was rewarded by finding the man he needed just leaving the room.

"Hijikata-san! I got the clothes you wanted!"

"Well? Don't just stand there. Go give them to the woman."

Hijikata left, brushing past the child, a frown still stuck to his face.

Tetsu knocked on the panel carefully and waited for it to be opened for him. The only other woman in the Shinsengumi was Ayu, and he'd never been in her room before, so he wasn't sure what to expect.

It was Ayu who opened the door and let him in. It was dimly lit by just a few candles and a damp smell lingered with a hint of soap.

Someone sneezed quietly, a high pitched cute noise, like a pixie.

And there she was, the woman who'd been crying about her father's death earlier, and who was eerily silent now.

She looked hollow, empty, and just… sad. It was like the life had been sucked out of her and all that was left behind was this shell.

Tetsu placed the package in front of her and turned to go but stopped and looked back at her.

He remembered his own father being killed by the Choshu, and sat next to her and reached for her hand.

She didn't react to his touch; she was like a statue, frozen in grief.

"I lost my dad to the Choshu… I'll avenge your dad for you too…"

His words were whispered, and once said, he left, going back to his room to sleep, dark thoughts weighing on his mind.

Ayumu watched as the woman seemed to come back to life.

"Thank you." She whispered to the long gone child.

**(AN: First Chapter! Woop! I've been meaning to write a PMK fic for a long time, and here is my idea finally, woo! R&R please)**


	2. Chapter 2 Vacant Expression

**Chapter 2 – Vacant Expression**

Tetsunosuke was cleaning the sparring hall, muddy footprints spread everywhere, he really wanted to yell at the other Shinsengumi for this, but realised that they'd just make fun of him for it again, and call him Puppy-Boy.

Someone cleared their throat from the door behind him, and when he turned he was surprised to see the foreign woman from before, dressed in the kimono he and Soji had picked out the night before.

She was smiling at him.

"May I help you?"

When she spoke it was impossibly formal, like a story book character, it was a little spooky.

"I'm just done so it's okay."

"What is this room used for?"

"Training mostly…"

"It reminds me of my old dance halls… Do you know how to dance?"

"Um, no, it's not something they teach here, but at festivals, with all the lights, and music, you can feel it all over! It's amazing! So… you dance?"

"Yes, I've been studying ballet for seven years now."

"What's ballet?"

"Would you like me to show you?"

Tetsu nodded eagerly and sat cross legged on the floor near the wall to watch and find out what ballet was.

The woman took off her geta and moved gracefully into the centre of the room. She bent her knees slightly, stretched, and began.

She seemed to float around the room, spins, twists and all with grace in tow. Shinpachi and Todo happened to glance through the open door into the training hall, and spied the strange woman performing some strange dance for Puppy-Boy. They stood and watched her move, swaying gracefully from one side of the room to the other, and then spinning on the spot, arms spread wide, her balance perfect. They winced to see she spun on her toe tips, but she did not seem fazed by it in the slightest, obviously used to the precarious move.

Before long a small crowd had gathered, watching the woman dance, mesmerised by the almost, unnatural grace and balance.

She slowed her movements and halted; arms at her sides, eyes closed.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked down at Tetsu; she smiled and looked towards the doorway. A deep blush spread over her pale cheeks, pink lips forming a surprised 'O', and golden-brown iris's going wide.

She hadn't been expecting such an audience.

The Shinsengumi applauded and were shooed away by an impatient Hijikata-san. He wanted to use the hall for training and here they were blocking all the doors. When he finally got into the room he seemed surprised to see the woman there.

"What are you doing in here? You should be in your room."

"I'm not a bird, I do not like being caged. Besides, I was… training."

"Training?"

"Yes. You doubt me?"

"I never said that."

"But you were thinking it were you not?"

"…"

She took his silence as an affirmative and raised an eyebrow at him, folded her arms and tapped her foot expectantly.

Hijikata-san stared at the wall behind her, neither of them willing to give up on their points.

But Hijikata caved, she was doing that thing only women could do, the folding of the arms, the tapping of the foot, and finally the clincher, the pursing of the lips.

Combined they could make nations fall, and all they ever had to do was look at you.

The man sighed and moved into the little annex to collect a wooden training sword. The woman watched him leave and relaxed her shoulders, a breath escaping her, that she hadn't even realised she was holding.

Yamanami-san gestured to the woman from the doorway, wanting her to come with him, Kondo-san wanted to speak with her again, more talk of the Choshu…

She left in silence, her carefree smile gone in an instant, eyes suddenly darkening as her hair slipped over her shoulders to hide her face from view.

She'd taken a step back from the world again, to guard her feelings for the talks ahead.

Tetsu recognised the look… he'd seen it on many of the men here. It was a sign of the demon inside them.

That terrifying look sent chills down his spine. How could she have changed so much. And then he realised she'd given herself to the demon in order to get her revenge, just like he'd vowed to do once upon a time.

Such an emptiness filled them, and the only thing to complete them, would be the spilt blood of her enemies.

**(AN: I apologise for the short chapter, but bigger things are brewing so I wanted this one to be snappy. R&R please?)**


	3. Chapter 3 A Point of Perspective

**Chapter 3 – A Point of Perspective**

Hijikata-san worked hard to keep his strength up, to keep him ready for battle at a moment's notice, and it was all about to pay off.

In the dark of the chill night air, shadows spilled over the high walls surrounding the compound, hushing into the building, searching for something… or someone.

The man woke to the abnormal creak of the ceiling in the corridor outside, and decided to investigate. He took up his sword and cracked the door just enough to peer out.

He could see nothing but the shadows, nothing to alert him, save for the feeling in his gut.

A shadow _moved._

Hijikata wasn't too sure if what he'd seen was real, but it was always better to be safe than sorry when lives were on the line. So he slipped down the hall after the nothingness, and watched it transform into a man as it headed for the floor. It opened a panel door and slipped inside.

Hijikata wondered what the shadow could want with that room, and realised too late that the room belonged to the young woman. He hurried forward to stop the man, and was rewarded by the soft thud of a blade as it hit something.

Standing in the doorway he saw the sword sticking out of the sleeping woman, and wondered for a moment why she hadn't screamed. It would seem that the assassin wondered the same thing, for he pulled back the sheet covering the sleeping form, and was rewarded with a pile of pillows instead. He swore, and it was only then that he realised he was being watched.

Hijikata moved.

It only took a second to dispatch the man; he didn't even spill much blood.

Then the vice-commander had another task to complete, he had to find the woman, before anyone else did.

There was a small cry and a thud from his right, and so he ran towards the noise. The training room, that was where it was coming from, Hijikata ran faster.

He ripped open the door to see a man fly into the wall beside him and slide down it, unconscious.

The woman was on the far side of the room, slowly being backed into a corner. The assailants couldn't get too close to her because of the spear that she wielded with unknown ease. She stuck out again, slashing viciously at the two left standing before her, not just trying to hurt, but to kill.

Hijikata raised his sword and struck down one of the men, and the woman struck out at the same time, skewering the last man through the abdomen, his blood splattering over the floor and wall, staining the woman's clothes, and dripping out of her hair and down her face.

It was at this point more of the Shinsengumi arrived, having been alerted to the commotion by Susumu. They stared at the mess the training hall was in, and even more so at the blood-soaked woman, what the hell was going on?

She flipped the body off the end of the spear, and then dropped that on the ground too, before heading for the man slumped against the wall near the door. Hijikata let her, she deserved some revenge, and these men would die before they'd tell her anything she wanted to ask them.

She calmly wrapped her small hands around the man's throat, and started to squeeze.

He woke up and struggled against her, pushing his hands against her face, trying to pull her hands away, making sickly gargling noises as his life was forced away.

She stopped when his eyes rolled back into his head and he stopped struggling.

She stood slowly, and walked, no, more swished past the gathered Shinsengumi towards the bathhouse at the back of the compound.

Tetsu saw her, covered in blood, and backed away from her in terror; his brother caught him and held him tight, staring in shock and fear at the strange woman too.

She was a demon…

Soji followed the woman, staying back just enough to not provoke her, and listened as she filled the bath tub with cold water, and jumped into it fully clothed still.

When she was under the surface, Soji could still hear her scream.

Throwing back the door Soji reached into the water and pulled the screaming woman out and held her close to him. She was crying too, but he couldn't tell what was tears and what was cold bath water.

Most of the blood had been washed off of her in the dunking, but her clothes and hair were still dirty. Soji pulled her limp frame out of the tub and stripped the outer layers of her yukata off of her, leaving wet, but clean under-garments on view. He didn't look at that, he just wrapped her in a towel and held her to his chest, rocking her slowly.

Kondo-san arrived and looked in at them, nodding to the young captain and passing him a tub of soaps and soft cloths for washing; he then pulled the door shut and left them alone in the dim to work things out with the woman's demon.

Now she knew what it was like to kill… now she knew what it was like to give up your soul to a demon, and let it have you in every way… now she knew what it was like to be forever tainted…

You can never recover from something like that, not even in the next life, because you had no soul to be judged, you became nothing once you died, you ceased to exist…

Perhaps it was too late to save her from the demon, but hopefully Soji could still save her from herself…

**(AN: Well, here's a new chapter, I know things might be a little confusing through this chapter, but that's what the next one is for. It'll be mostly talk and explanations, and then you'll understand everything and more! Woo! R&R please!)**


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